About Food Fitness First&reg

Meet Our Founders

Pam Thompson, RD

Pam M Thompson, RDN, LD, NHA

Pam Thompson is a registered and licensed dietitian. As a University of Georgia graduate with a degree in dietetics, the interrelationship with nutrition and wellness is her passion. Almost thirty years ago, she founded Instructional Dietetic Associates, Inc., a dietary and nutrition consulting company that provides nutrition services to a full spectrum of health care facilities like Head Start, physician offices, Council on Aging, renal dialysis centers, addiction disease facilities, and universities.

Ten years ago she recognized a need for a simple, easy to understand wellness program. Using her professional work experience, input from countless other professionals and computer programmers, Food Fitness First, Inc.&reg, was created. Unlike the current dietary guidelines, she developed a tool that was easy to understand and simple to use. The FOOD SPIRAL® was created. Her team is now working to develop FOOD SPIRALS® for different diseases, for multiple cultures and across the age spectrum. The FOOD SPIRAL® concept is simple – Green for Go foods, Yellow for Caution foods and Red for Stop foods. All people understand this concept and it makes learning nutrition fun and achievable.

Not only is Pam dedicated to bringing a new and exciting nutrition program to the healthcare community, but she is dedicated to her local community. She was the first woman president for the Toombs County Chamber of Commerce in Vidalia,Georgia. She has worked closely with the Chamber and local festival to raise money through writing her own cookbook. She was Legislative Liaison for Georgia Dietetic Association for four years. She is a strong believer in education as she has established the Pam McIntyre Thompson Scholarship in Dietetics awarded annually for University of Georgia students. She also worked with the governor to establish a vocational school in her community.

Nancy Walker, RD

Nancy Walker, RDN, LD, CDE

I have been a Registered Dietitian for over 30 years. From the beginning, I have been intrigued with diabetes. As a child, I saw several of my relatives suffer with the disease. My Aunt Lizzie, 100 lbs soaking wet, had diabetes and took insulin. My Uncle Syl had part of his foot amputated and had a bad limp. My grandmother and Aunt Kate both developed diabetes in their late 70’s. About 20 years ago, my brother was diagnosed with diabetes. He was in California, driving a 14 –wheeler. His doctor put him on insulin and his career as a truck-driver was essentially over. His struggles with diet, medication and trying to work have been enormous to cope with. This past year, my mom was diagnosed with diabetes because of steroid use and I was diagnosed with pre-diabetes.

"My style of education is called empowerment. It is a model of education that asks people what is important for them to learn, there-by placing the responsibility of their disease and management with them, the patient and me as the person to help them. The educator can then build on this, building trust and communication with each success the patient has."

I have been a Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE) for 26 years, and continue to learn about diabetes care from up-to-date literature and also from the patients themselves. Listening to their trials and successes is what makes it all worthwhile for me.

All that said, Diabetes education is a passion for me and now preventing diabetes has become a life goal.

The purpose of Food Fitness First, Inc.® is to provide simple nutrition and health information to all. Understanding that nutrition and fitness can be overwhelming, we offer expert advice and resources so that you can take charge of your health and attain desired goals. Our registered and licensed dietitians have developed recipes, menus, tips and many more resources that address specific dietary challenges. Covering topics ranging from obesity, diabetes, carb counting, low sodium, renal disease, renal diabetes, plant-based diets, Syndrome-X (Metabolic Syndrome), sports nutrition and more, we provide the most accurate information available so that healthy eating patterns can be incorporated into your daily life with ease.

The Food Fitness First, Inc.® program is based on the FOOD SPIRAL®. This nutritional tool allows you to make the best food choices in regards to your dietary challenge(s). Our FOOD SPIRAL’s® are based on the 3 colors of a traffic light and foods are viewed as healthiest from top to bottom, left to right, light to dark and large to small.

What’s unique about our program is that we are the only nutrition
company with a Renal Diabetes program that truly works, Fiber is our
most valued nutritional criteria and the FOOD SPIRAL® visual makes eating
healthy a simple, memorable task. We also offer teacher Certification
Training, Diet Cards and Food Service options as well.

When signing up with Food Fitness First, Inc.®, you will first fill out a
health assessment and will then be assigned a 1) Favorable Fitness Factor
and a 2) FOOD SPIRAL® that best suits your needs. A Favorable Fitness
Factor is an overall score of health determined by eating habits,
exercise habits, lab values/ medical history and lifestyle habits. A Food
Factor will also be offered based on our recommended daily caloric intake
per individual. Depending on the spiral you are placed on, each food is given
a number and color to represent its level of health. To stay healthy, add
these values together (breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack) and satisfy the
provided Food Factor score daily.

We like to think that we are not a diet program, but a way to help individuals struggling with dietary challenges learn what is good to eat and become educated on their condition in order to plan for the future. From hundreds of “What Can I Do” handouts to menus, recipes, PowerPoints, health scorecards and explanations of common illnesses and medical issues, we are always thinking of how we can best serve our clients.

Our Experience

On Campus

Food Fitness First® was an integral part of Georgia Southern University Health Center. It worked with every area pertaining with food and health services on campus. On campus offerings included:

Wellness classes for students and staff.

Partnering with the campus fitness center.

Working with campus health services and providing educational materials.

Assisting campus food service providers to make healthy food accessible to students.

Beyond Campus

Food Fitness First&reg was highly involved in the community surrounding Georgia Southern University. We worked with Boys and Girls Clubs as well as educated groups that help people without health insurance. Food Fitness First&reg is always ready to extend a helping hand to those in need.

Goodwill

Pam and her team currently work with 4 Goodwill locations in Georgia: Warner Robins, Augusta, Lake Oconee and Macon. With over 5 certified instructors and over 30 students, Food Fitness First, Inc® is improving the health of many individuals across the state.